I saw an episode of this dreadful TV show-it is essentially a fantasy series-very little SciFi about it. The one I saw featured Dr. Smith and the boy getting shanghied aboard a spaceship (commanded by an admiral in 18th century dress). How this admiral came upon the family on an unknown planet is anybodie's guess.
But anyway-how did the series end? Did they get back to earth?
What happened to Dr. Smith?
Hey, at least those velour clothes were cool

I was about to say the same thing. I found an episode guide on Wikipedia that gives a bit more detail. It says that a fourth season was planned, but that the show was then canceled after the third season finale was shot.

That's actually how I remember most TV shows being done in that era. There were no storylines spanning multiple episodes; each one had to be self-contained and no matter what happened the characters would end up just about where they started. And it was rare for a show to do a final episode that offered any resolution.

Apropos of nothing, a poker buddy piped up in the middle of our last game, "Doctor Smith!" "Huh?" said we. "The first openly gay, or at least over-the-top effeminate character on TV!" And then he bet a couple of bucks on an inside straight, and we moved on to the next topic. But I later brought up the fact that I absolutely loved Lost In Space as a kid (I mean, it had the guy who used to be Zorro as the dad!). And then I brought up Paul Lynde as Uncle Arthur on Bewitched, but we weren't sure who was on screen first.

I actually did enjoy the show but I'm sure Penny and Judy had a lot to do with that reason. That being said, the final episode was called "The Great Vegetable Rebellion" about a man-like carrot that attacks Dr. Smith. It's considered one of the worst episodes of the series.

I actually did enjoy the show but I'm sure Penny and Judy had a lot to do with that reason. That being said, the final episode was called "The Great Vegetable Rebellion" about a man-like carrot that attacks Dr. Smith. It's considered one of the worst episodes of the series.

In the 50s version of The Thing, the creature was more akin to vegetable matter. One of the characters says something like: "A walking carrot?"

As a young child, this traumatized me for many years against being able to eat carrots. Or brussel sprouts.

Didn't Charles Nelson Reilly beat Lynde to the airwaves with all of his "What's My Line?" and "Match Game" appearances?

His earliest Match Game appearances were in the 70's. He did appear on What's My Line once in 1964, but by that time, he had already guested on The Patty Duke Show, The Farmer's Daughter, and Car 54, Where Are You?.

I was about to say the same thing. I found an episode guide on Wikipedia that gives a bit more detail. It says that a fourth season was planned, but that the show was then canceled after the third season finale was shot.

That's actually how I remember most TV shows being done in that era. There were no storylines spanning multiple episodes; each one had to be self-contained and no matter what happened the characters would end up just about where they started. And it was rare for a show to do a final episode that offered any resolution.

But LiS did have episode-spanning stories. E.g., starting with Season 2 they had to flee their current exploding planet, encountered some odd stuff in space, landed on another planet, etc. Since the show relied on some elements of old movie serials, cliff hangars at the end of episodes did happen, esp. in Season 1.

I actually did enjoy the show but I'm sure Penny and Judy had a lot to do with that reason. That being said, the final episode was called "The Great Vegetable Rebellion" about a man-like carrot that attacks Dr. Smith. It's considered one of the worst episodes of the series.

Next to last episode. The actual last one was "Junkyard in Space".

Few television shows back then ended with resolution. "The Fugitive" in 1967 with the two parter where Dr Kimble is finally cleared, is an exception. When you consider the huge ratings that got, I wonder what took television so long to make "final episodes" into a huge, must see event. Perhaps decisions to renew or not were made after filming was stopped for a particular season.

Lost in Space did have a weekly cliffhanger: instead of scenes from the next week's show, they'd show the first minute or two of it (and sometimes it was a standalone cliffhanger that had nothing to do with the plot*). But there was no story arc and, like all TV shows of the era (other than The Fugitive), no season or series finales.

*"Why not open a window?"

__________________
"If a person saying he was something was all there was to it, this country'd be full of rich men and good-looking women. Too bad it isn't that easy.... In short, when someone else says you're a writer, that's when you're a writer... not before."Purveyor of fine science fiction since 1982.

i was watching it Wednesday, June 8th, 1966, and I was annoyed because the stupid TV station kept breaking in with stupid tornado watch announcements. Then, just before 7:00PM Central Time the sirens went off, and the F5 tornado went rolling through town.

I don't really think shows like that (See Also: Gilligan's Island) had any 'plan' in mind for how to end things. There was no continuity or story line. Just same people, same situation, new encounter, reset button, wait for next week.

If they had known it was going to end, there would, at the very most, been a two part episode. But mostly likely it would have just been a single episode "They encounter another ship from Earth and are guided to an Earth Colony or pointed back to Earth."

Lost in Space always reminded me of Gilligan's Island. Almost every episode some traveler would drop by this uninhabited planet. None of them ever rescued the Robinsons.

Gilligan was the same way. Lost in Space was so camp that it almost was a comedy at times.

Marta Kristen played Judy Robinson (the older daughter). She did a hard R film a few years later. Screencaps are easily found.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chimera

I don't really think shows like that (See Also: Gilligan's Island) had any 'plan' in mind for how to end things. There was no continuity or story line. Just same people, same situation, new encounter, reset button, wait for next week.

If they had known it was going to end, there would, at the very most, been a two part episode. But mostly likely it would have just been a single episode "They encounter another ship from Earth and are guided to an Earth Colony or pointed back to Earth."

His earliest Match Game appearances were in the 70's. He did appear on What's My Line once in 1964, but by that time, he had already guested on The Patty Duke Show, The Farmer's Daughter, and Car 54, Where Are You?.

I used to love reruns of LIS as a kid, but rewatched some a few years ago and boy, what a letdown. Still better than the movie, though.

The pilot episode comes around every now and then, if you're bored. No Dr. Smith, no Robot, not much Jupiter 2 even. Painful thing to watch.

Apparently back then the networks thought that a bad enough dramatic series would make a great comedy, and LIS was a decent one by 60's standards (McHale's Navy was another show that started as a drama). How a film studio could have thought a film of a comedy series would work better as a drama instead remains a mystery. I'm sure Gary Oldman could have done a prissy Dr. Smith as well as he did an evil one.

"The first openly gay, or at least over-the-top effeminate character on TV!"

Joe Flynn's fussy Captain Binghamton (and Bob Hastings' even fussier Lt. Carpenter) on McHale's Navy predated Lost In Space by a couple of years. Tony Randall was playing his usual character at least as early as 1953 on Mr. Peepers. For that matter, Paul Lynde's first appearance as Uncle Albert was in October 1965, so Dr. Smith only got on the air a month or so earlier.

Back in the early 1990s, the story of the Robinsons was continued in comic book form by Innovation comics. The first 12 issues were stand alone stories. With issue 13 a 12 issue story arc written by Bill Mumy began dealing with the Robinsons finally arriving at Alpha Centuari. (Hint: it does not go well) Alas the book was canceled after six issues of the arc was published. Fast foward to 2005 and the story line was completed in a graphic novel. Lost in Space: Voyage to the Bottom of the Soul. Recommended.

The idea of a "Space Family Robinson" was always a good one. supposedly Scrooge McDuck creator Carl Barks had suggested it a long time ago.

In 1962 Gold Key Comics started a serious adventure comic of that name that was pretty good: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Family_Robinson Note that this is three years before the TV series Lost in Space. Considering that both feature a family with father, mother, kids (only two) in their own far-traveling space ship, it's hard to believe that the TV series didn't steal from the comic. Fortunately, the comic had no Dr. Smith and no Robot (the family had a couple of pets). After the TV show came out, the publisher didn't want to antagonize the company making the TV series, since they licensed rights to their shows, so they simply added "Lost in Space" to the top of the cover and rode on the free publicity The comic book long outlasted the TV show.

As noted, there was a later "Lost in Space" comic, scripted by Billy Mumy. I bought the first issue, which was awful. I think Billy was fantasizing about his female cio-stars, or imagined his fans were, and played to that.

Some time ago I started the joke of flapping my arms up and down awkwardly and saying "DANGER, DANGER!" when my boys were about to do something unwise. Now that I've explained the joke (to them and Mrs P) they've started doing it too, even though they have never seen the show.

The pilot episode comes around every now and then, if you're bored. No Dr. Smith, no Robot, not much Jupiter 2 even. Painful thing to watch.

The pilot I saw certainly had Dr. Smith; he programmed the robot to kill the crew and was caught on the ship when it took off. Harris played him as straight villain, and the original plan was that he would be killed off. But the Robinsons needed a foil, and Harris started camping up the role when he realized that it would get boring to have him constantly scheming and trying to kill everyone. The robot appeared, but had no personality.

__________________
"If a person saying he was something was all there was to it, this country'd be full of rich men and good-looking women. Too bad it isn't that easy.... In short, when someone else says you're a writer, that's when you're a writer... not before."Purveyor of fine science fiction since 1982.

The pilot I saw certainly had Dr. Smith; he programmed the robot to kill the crew and was caught on the ship when it took off. Harris played him as straight villain, and the original plan was that he would be killed off. But the Robinsons needed a foil, and Harris started camping up the role when he realized that it would get boring to have him constantly scheming and trying to kill everyone. The robot appeared, but had no personality.

I saw the aired pilot when it was first broadcast, and it did indeed have Dr. Smith and the Robot. But he's clearly referring to the unaired pilot, which lacks both:

Few television shows back then ended with resolution. "The Fugitive" in 1967 with the two parter where Dr Kimble is finally cleared, is an exception. When you consider the huge ratings that got, I wonder what took television so long to make "final episodes" into a huge, must see event. Perhaps decisions to renew or not were made after filming was stopped for a particular season.

I believe that TV shied away from any final resolutions ever since deciding that they needed to bring Davy Crockett back from the dead after the Alamo episode of the 1955 miniseries. Basically, executives wanted the option of going on forever.

"The version I heard was," it ends with every member of the cast discovering that the show had been cancelled by reading about it in Variety.

As for the original pilot, it's available online on Bing; the episode title is "No Place to Hide." Keep in mind that it's almost a literal "Space Family Robinson," as it is set on a planet where they crash, and the ending makes it sound like they weren't leaving the planet any time soon, if at all.

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